Ann Ferro: Raspberries and good lessons

The black raspberries were ripe and I was there, basket at the ready. The temperature was closing in on 90. Today’s picking would have to be efficient. Bug sprayed legs and arms, I moved down the row picking as quickly as the thorns allowed, adding all of the dark beauties to my basket that I could see.
As I turned around to retrace my steps and begin another row, I noticed that from this angle I’d missed almost as many berries as I’d picked. Good lesson here. What you see depends on where you are looking.
And, without missing a beat, my convoluted mind had me thinking of Citizenship 10, a class I took when I was a Sophomore in college.
Why? Citizenship 10 was, if I could rank my classes by value in later life, right at the top. The class required students to write a two-page paper on an emergent issue every two weeks. It worked like this. On Friday we received the reading list, the issue and the first of five lectures. Each lecture, Friday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Monday looked at the problem from a different perspective. The paper explaining your position was due on the Tuesday at 4 p.m. after the last Monday lecture. Your position paper had to support your thesis utilizing the suggested readings, any other reading that you did and the lectures. It was two hours sleep every other Monday night. This was a tough assignment, but so worth it.
What we learned was the value of seeing an issue from many sides, deeply exploring the many options and consequences of decision making.
My professor for this course, also one of the lecturers, was the great Michael O. Sawyer.
He was beloved by his students and his colleagues and his presence, his way of living his life was a lesson much the same as the lesson of Citizenship 10.
Maxwell School is known for its liberal slant. Mike Sawyer was a Republican, not only a card carrying Republican but for a time he was among the leadership of the county Republican committee. He practiced his faith openly in an era where religion was anathema among many college professionals. Yet, he was the epitome of collegiality, as were his colleagues. The members of this Maxwell community may have differed in perspectives save for that which required respect for each other.
He valued students, their opinions and needs. He challenged us all to be the best we could be. He was a tough marker.
The combination of the course work and the professor who lead us made for the best in education for citizenship.
The experience of coming in contact with varying viewpoints, each analyzed and respected, allowed those of us smart enough to sign up for this so intense and difficult course was to learn how to live in a functioning democracy. We may differ mightily on a matter, but we were taught to analyze the differences and find the commonalities in order to see the values of both sides.
How different it seems today when a differing viewpoint is thought of as a separator, an assault on one’s being, something to be scoffed at or seen as inimical. As Dr. Sawyer brought us together through discussion and research, today we seem to function only within our own boxes, never taking the time or effort to see the other’s point of view. More often than not we attach our egos to our views and think that to differ is an assault on us as individuals. Name calling has replaced thought.
I would bet that if Mike Sawyer were here today, he would recommend that we all learn how to pick some black raspberries, to see the value of looking at something from a different vantage point and transfer that strategy to the analysis of the momentous issues that affect and divide us today.
Our baskets would fill a lot faster.